Blanchard has three offers, looking for more

After his sophomore season a year ago, Denham Springs (La.) running back Kaleb Blanchard showed the promise to be a top recruit in the class of 2013.

However, the 6-foot, 185-pound prospect suffered a setback his junior season that has caused colleges to be a bit cautious in offering him.

"I only had a chance to play in two or three games this year," Blanchard said. "I dislocated my shoulder and injured my hamstring. All the colleges want to see me in the spring to make sure I'm back to 100-percent. I had surgery in December and my shoulder is feeling stronger than ever. My hamstring injury, that's long gone. I'm just waiting til spring to see what they think."

Despite the setback Blanchard does currently have a trio of offers.

"I have offers from UL-Lafayette, Arkansas and Ole Miss," he said. "UL offered me last spring, Ole Miss was two weeks ago and Arkansas was around January sometime. The Ole Miss one came as a big surprise. I talked to them over the phone one time and they offered me."

Recently Blanchard had an opportunity to take in one of those programs and he says it went very well. In addition, he has a few more trips planned in the very near future.

"I visited Arkansas on March 3 or around then for a junior day," he said, "but they had offered me before that. It was really impressive. I liked the city of Fayetteville - it's really nice and so is the campus. I liked the coaches. Coach (Tim) Horton, I really enjoy talking to him. I just really enjoyed Arkansas.

"I've been to an LSU junior day that was in January. I'm going to UL's this Saturday and then the following week to visit both Ole Miss and Mississippi State."

Blanchard says a couple of other schools are showing him quite a bit of attention and could be close to adding their names to his offer list.

"Tennessee seems to like me so they may be close to offering," he said. "Mississippi State, they said they're going to offer me but they want to see me first. That's why I'm going down there."

With his recruitment looking like it will pick up quite a bit come spring ball it is no surprise that he wants to wait before naming a favorite.

"Not really," Blanchard said as to if any schools are sticking out. "I just want to see all my options."